


Mizpah

by Stylish_Racoon



Series: Breath Of The Wild AU [6]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Grief/Mourning, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, botw au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 21:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18949000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stylish_Racoon/pseuds/Stylish_Racoon
Summary: On the way to the stairs leading down to the living room, Eijirou paused on his tracks, his gaze catching on a wooden frame hanging on the wall. It was hard to miss even with no light source — Katsuki did not own a lot of things, as he did not decorate his house with paintings, so the picture on the wall above the dresser stood out the most. It was a picture taken one hundred years ago, a picture which captured a moment so simple, but so precious at the same time.(OR: Prince Eijirou looks at the picture of him, Katsuki and the Champions took one hundred years ago and is overwhelmed by sadness)





	Mizpah

**Author's Note:**

> Mizpah = (has come to mean) the emotional bond between people who are separated, either by distance or death. 
> 
> The word popped in my mind suddenly one day, and the next 1k words you're about to read wouldn't leave me alone until I put them down. Furthermore, I've been meaning to address the "painful memories" that they have to bear, as Zelda quotes by the end of the game.
> 
> I hope you can enjoy?

A force plunging in the pliant part of his belly yanked him out his peaceful slumber.

Groaning, Eijirou rolled on his back, rubbing the abused spot until the pain eased and sleep drained out of the corners of his mind. In a slow blink, he opened his eyes, casting his bleary gaze towards the window on the wall next to their bed. The sky had already shed its darker hues and the myriads of stars across its length that gleamed like splotches of white paint on a dark canvas, had started to fade. The crickets' sweet song praised the coolness of the night, but it, too, had started to subside as the first rays of dawn scattered across the atmosphere.

The very first sounds of cattle being released for their morning routine echoed in the distance, shattering the whistling silence. Hateno Village was slowly waking up with him.

Next to him, a body shifted again.

Eijirou shivered as a cold breeze brushed the bare skin of his chest. He turned to his side, fumbling for the blanket with blurry sight, only to see it was wrapped neatly around Katsuki's body instead. What a predicament, he thought to himself with a smile. An elbow in his stomach and exposure to the chilly autumn air. Yet Eijirou had slept next to Katsuki long enough for these things to be normal.

He slid out of the bed. It creaked and complained under his weight, stopping only when his feet hit the floor and he stood up. A pair of pants were on the floor, a pair he couldn't recognize in the absence of light, but they could have only been either his or Katsuki's, so Eijirou picked them up and stepped in them.

The fabric stopped at his calves and it was breath-stopping tight on the waist.

_Katsuki's_.

Eijirou left them unbuttoned instead of taking them off. He could feed the horses, he mused fleetingly. Feed the horses or make some breakfast while he waited for Katsuki to join him.

On the way to the stairs leading down to the living room, Eijirou paused on his tracks, his gaze catching on a wooden frame hanging on the wall. It was hard to miss even with no light source — Katsuki did not own a lot of things, as he did not decorate his house with paintings, so the picture on the wall above the dresser stood out the most. It was a picture taken one hundred years ago, a picture which captured a moment so simple, but so precious at the same time.

Eijirou walked towards it, a smile forming on his face. Daruk's enormous body took over the background, his grin hiding mischief as his large hands pushed everyone else in the picture out of balance. Revali's beak was gaping open, Mipha mimicking him as her mouth was open in a silent gasp, Urbosa smiled, astonished but amused, while Katsuki's familiar, deadly scowl was on full force.

His gaze stopped at his own face at the center of the image. He was looking back at himself from a century ago, at his smile wrinkling his eyes at the corners - a real smile, a rare smile he did not wear often back then. His mind reeled, traveling to the day; to young Purah hiding behind the Sheikah Slate, go her voice telling them where to stand and how to pose so that they all fit in the frame, he could still hear their chatter, Revali's grumbling, Mipha's nervous pacing and Urbosa's low humming.

One hundred years later and the memory captured in the picture had yet to disappear.

His friends, however, had.

Eijirou reached out to touch them — the tip of Revali's beak, Urbosa's rich red ponytail, Daruk's round cheeks, as well as the fin jutting out of Mipha's head, and the smile he wore earlier melted to a frown.

He could recall every word they had spoken to him, every little touch or look of encouragement for the tough fate he had thought he had to face all alone. He could recall every second he had spent in their presence; the long strolls around Gerudo City with Urbosa by his side, the swims he and Mipha enjoyed after hours of sparring, Revali's disgruntled comments on how bad his aim was, the rock-smashing competitions he held with Daruk — things that had been so trivial and reachable back then.

Things he would never get to do again.

His throat grew tight as a thunderstorm broke loose in his soul and leaked out of the corners of his eyes. He withdrew his hand, placing it on the wooden surface of the dresser as the clouds rained and rained and rained, without ever stopping.

Outside, the river coursed by the house in a hurried whisper, a cricket squealed in joy one last time, but it all did nothing to soothe one hundred years worth of pain.

Then a voice, scratching like the roughest of sandpapers, shattered the stillness of dawn.

"What are you doing?"

Raising his head, Eijirou was caught by a pair of piercing red eyes. Katsuki was still laying on their bed, but he was propped on his elbows and the scowl he wore was the same as on the picture on the wall.

Defeated, Eijirou offered a smile he didn't mean. "Did my sniffling wake you?"

A long sigh echoed. The bed sheets rustled as Katsuki sat up. "Eijirou," he started.

"It's not what you think," Eijirou cut him off quickly. "I'm not blaming myself. Not anymore, I —" He glanced back at the picture. "They gave their lives for the kingdom and for us two to get rid Ganon from Hyrule, I know that."

Eijirou let go of a sigh of his own and dropped his head between his shoulders. The sheets rustled again and soft footsteps hit the wooden floor, slow and steadily approaching, until a blanket was draped across his shoulders and hands squeezed his shoulders. When he looked up, Katsuki's face was twisted in a glare that bore no hostility; only concern. Eijirou bit his lower lip.

"Yet I miss them terribly," he said. With the back of his hand, he wiped his nose and added, "And I know what you'll say, that they live through you. I know that, I feel it every time you heal my wounds, every time you snap your fingers, those times you've shielded me from falling rocks, or when we are swept up by the wind instead of climbing a steep hill. I feel their spirits each time, their energies surging through you and filling the air, touching my skin."

Eijirou's throat grew tighter, the tears streaming down his cheeks with no more control.

"But I still miss them," he admitted and his voice was shaking like a winter leaf. "I miss Daruk's warm smiles, Mipha's politeness and anxiousness, Urbosa's calming voice, even Revali's stubbornness and your constant bickering. I miss them so much. It's been —" He hiccupped. "It's been so long, but the pain...the pain doesn't go away."

With a hand covering his mouth, Eijirou heaved a new round of tears. The hands on his shoulders slid down to his biceps, squeezing hard enough to cut off circulation.

"The pain," Katsuki said, hoarse and full of the anguish Eijirou felt. "I wish I could take it from you."

Eijirou sniffled. "Haven't you shouldered enough already, my love?"

"Haven't you? Stupid."

Eijirou shook his head, as if to clear it from the thunder clouds hogging up the space. "I'll be okay," he promised quietly. "The memories we have to bear — so many of them are painful. I know that. Urbosa used to say... that sometimes she forgot herself and got lost in the past." He raised his head, catching Katsuki's gaze. His eyes were gleaming with unshed tears. "I just got lost in the past for a second there."

"When you're upset," Katsuki trailed off and the fearsome scowl Eijirou knew and loved, resurfaced. Then he added, voice low, "I want to kill... _things_."

"But Ganon can only be sealed away," Eijirou explained, but with humor, "We can't kill him."

"Next fucking time, I'm killing the bastard and no one will stop me."

Eijirou soaked in the certainty of Katsuki's words. His endless strength and courage flowed through every open pore on Eijirou's body, towards every crevice in his broken heart, healing him with care. He turned his body slightly and dropped his head on Katsuki's shoulder, remnants of tears seeping into the fabric of his worn-out shirt and leaving darker marks on their wake.

"Do you miss them too?" he asked after a while of silence.

Arms reached around him and pulled him in tightly. "Maybe not the feathery prick."

Eijirou's smile returned. "All Revali ever wanted was your attention."

"He sure sucked at asking for it," Katsuki scoffed.

"Are you sure?"

"Fuck you."

His chuckle was muffled against fabric. Katsuki's hands slipped under the blanket and roamed nonchalantly against Eijirou's skin, and he did it over and over again and electricity sparked up at the point of contact, and Daruk, Revali, Urbosa and Mipha slipped into Eijirou's heart and warmed it up again. Katsuki could do it at times — become the bridge so that their friends that lived through him could connect with Eijirou too. He was magical like that.

"Thank you," was all he could say. "I'm okay now."

Katsuki's laugh was airy. "I'll go make tea then," he said and the magic stopped, but it wasn't gone. "We have a long day ahead of us. The hag in the brat's body can drive me insane."

Eijirou quietly watched him trot down the stairs, his eyes following him all the way to the living room until Katsuki set the fire going in the kitchen.

The morning's light streamed into the house from the window by their bed, illuminating the interior, and just then, like the sun peeking behind Mt. Lanaryu, it suddenly dawned on Eijirou too. Their friends' weapons, the very same weapons they had used in battle against Ganon where they perished — Urbosa's Shield and Scimitar, Mipha's Trident, Daruk's Boulder Breaker and Revali's Great Eagle Bow. Katsuki had them all in displays on every wall available.

He was doing his best to keep them alive with any way he could, Eijirou realized, and he was ashamed of himself.

Turning towards the picture, Eijirou let go of another sigh. For one last time, he took their faces in, the ease with which they coexisted, regardless of how oh-so very different they were, he bathed in the ease of their smiles and allowed himself to plunge in the past once again, shed another river of tears, before the low humming of the man waiting for him in the kitchen, his anchor, his hero, tugged him all the way back to the present.

They had so many things to do still. So that their friends' sacrifice wasn't in vein.

The kettle whistled and Eijirou made a promise right then and there. Just like Katsuki kept them alive through his soul, Eijirou would make sure their legacy stayed alive through him.

Then, he walked to the kitchen a stronger man.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Now I can move on writing other things. SIGH.
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Stylish_Racoon)


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